Young twins who sent a message in a bottle were stunned when the woman who found it 2,400 miles away turned up as a surprise visitor at their front door.

Lucie and Ellie Readings, five, placed their messages into empty wine bottles before throwing them into the sea at Dovercourt, Essex.

The bottles were set afloat last August and Lucy’s was discovered on a beach in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands.

The girls thought their messages had been lost at sea until the mystery woman arrived at their door. It later emerged their guest had a friend from Essex so decided to combine a visit to her with surprise visit.

Bored: Sally said she took the girls to the beach out of boredom in the summer holidays (Image: Cascade)

The girls’ mum Sally, 32, could not believe what had happened. She explained: “It was the summer holidays and I was running out of things to do. Doing the messages was just something to do on that day. I never expected something to happen.”

The Spanish finder of Lucy’s bottle was unable to read English so asked a friend to translate.

When she realised the coincidence, she decided rather than try writing, she would pay the girls a visit.

Message in a bottle: The Spanish woman decided to visit England after finding the bottle (Image: Cascade)

Sally added: “There was a knock at the door, which their dad, Frank, answered, when I was out picking up the girls from dance class. I got home and Frank said we had a visitor.

“It was a shock but she was really sweet and had brought some donuts she had made for the girls. It was lovely and the whole evening we kept saying we could not believe what had happened.

“The girls were very excited but they don’t really understand how rare it is for something like this to happen.”

The family are planning to keep in touch with their new Spanish friend who asked not to be identified.